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Traction Drive
"Dear Doctor Science, on a previous show you demonstrated how a Traction drive was similar to a cat walking across a carpet to get across a sheet of ice. Isn't it possible, then for the cat to not only rip up the carpet, but exert enough force to shift the carpet on the ice? And is that also possible with a Traction drive? Thank you in advance, Timmy" "Well Timmy, to answer your Second Question, No the cat wouldn't have enough mass to shift the universal sized carpet we'd be working with. To answer both your second and first questions, Yes, let me show you how..." ~Fred Sampson, Actor, The Doctor Science Show ---- What it is The traction drive is one of the more difficult types of drive to explain in terms of mathematics and physics, and yet is really quite simple to explain by example. The easiest way to imagine how the traction drive works is to imagine a large hollow sphere. Within the sphere is a device designed to send out adhesion cables to the inside wall of the sphere. To move the device "up" it fires cables towards that direction and then draws them in. Since the mass of the device is less than that of the sphere, the cables "pull" the device in that direction. This is the same for "Down" "left" "Right" Along any axis, direction or the like. To move in a direction at a faster velocity, more cables could be extruded to increase the force pulling the device along that path. How this relates is imagine that the "Sphere" is actually dimensional Space-time, and the cables are a type of phased dimensional force, and you have a general idea on how the drive works in practice. The drive effectively projects this force outwards where it latches onto the fabric of Space-time, and then contracts the innermost part of the field to drag the ship in that direction. This provides motive force along any axis and since it is moving with creating little in the way of inertia, it's possible for the ship to start moving, stop almost immediately and shift direction without needing to re-orient itself or change thrust vectors. ---- Advantages and Disadvantages A Traction drive is seen as being akin to a gravimetric drive in versatility and performance, without the acceleration and inertia drawbacks. It moves without expelling fuel or mass for thrust, can reach rather phenomenal speeds, works in both atmosphere and stellar space, The only limits on acceleration being the amount of energy put into the drive. The biggest drawbacks happen to be in relation to energy usage. The traction drive doesn't convey much in the way of inertia, which means once the field stops contracting the field will actually stabilize the ship velocity wise, unless all potential fields are disengaged. There may be some minor drift in the same direction the ship had been pulled when the drive is disengaged, but the simplest solution is the drive needs to be nearly constantly engaged and running in order for the ship to maintain movement. Though with modern power sources in good operational order maintaining power shouldn't be that difficult. Though it does allow for active and passive scanners to pick up the constant use of an energy source while it's active. Secondly, putting too much power into the drive can cause small anomalies to form. Similar to having too many hooks in the "skin" of the sphere too close together, the drive can cause some abnormalities to form if too much power is applied. Most traction drives have a safety that will limit the amount of power that can be fed into it at any time to avoid this. Also nature has all manner of ways of repairing spacial anomalies, in many cases before any serious side effects can be noticed for small ones. (Similar to a living body healing a Scratch a lot easier than a full gash.) Since Spacial anomalies also interfere with how the drive itself operates, areas with spacial anomalies already present, as well as those that could be created by the Drive itself at a high power level can make the drive difficult to operate, it may cause course deviations or similar difficulties that would need to be compensated for. Not to mention spacial anomalies themselves can be a navigational risk and could do damage to the spacecraft as well. Check local anomaly listings before operating a traction drive in a system, Also maintaining a fine tuned sensor array for such that may appear is advised. And as with all manner of Drives, it is not suggested to override manufacturer installed safety devices. ---- Additional There are some claims of creating a Traction drive that doesn't use this perceived dimension's space time and instead makes use of an extra-dimensional "anchor" for the field to interact on and thus avoiding the danger of causing localized anomalies in this dimension. Though such a device probably carries with it any manner of additional problems that have not yet been evaluated.